Ask HN: Does Window's "Set Time Automatically" feature require the correct time?

2 pointsby scosman4 mesi fa1 comments

I test builds using a Windows VM. It's often off for weeks at a time. When I boot up, the time is usually stale and any HTTPS/TLS request won't work (by TLS design).

However, the Windows "Set Time Automatically" feature never works for me, no matter how often I toggle it.

Today I had a hunch: "Set Time Automatically" calls a server over TLS, so also doesn't work if the time is incorrect. To check I set the time to a few minutes off: close enough for HTTPS to work, but still incorrect. Sure enough, "Set Time Automatically" immediately worked. Not sure if it's NTS over TLS, or DNS over TLS, but it's breaking somewhere.

Did MSFT really implement a "Set Time Automatically" feature that requires the time to be correct to function?

1 comments

compressedgas4 mesi fa

Yes, the set time automatically requires the time to be set to sometime near the true time and then it will keep it from drifting. However as this is a VM you shouldn't need it as the VM host should have an option for the guest to follow the host's time. When the guest VM starts up, the host gives the guest the current time, after which the set time automatically option would work without issue even though it isn't needed as the guest time can't drift from the host time. Look in your VM host software's guest configuration for clock settings.